


hero's bane

by tisapear



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, M/M, POV Ben Braeden, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24473131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisapear/pseuds/tisapear
Summary: To Ben, Sam will always be the villain of the story.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 109





	hero's bane

The moment the man—Dean's brother, Sam, Sammy-but-only-to-Dean—walks in behind Dean, Ben knows it's over. He'll take Dean away.

No, that's not exactly right. Not really. Dean's not some helpless princess, no damsel in distress—nothing can just _take_ him away, not without his permission. Dean will _go_ with Sam, of his own free will, just like he did four years ago. 

They thought he couldn't hear anything, but it's so easy getting information when adults think you're not listening. Didn't even think of making sure that the headphones weren't just for show, music turned off minutes ago. He dared just one peek out of the window, back then, but he saw the way _they_ looked at each other; that whole long-lasting devotion and forever-love thing from the fairytales.

He saw the way his mom looked at the closed front door, too, longing and hopelessness and resignation. Picture perfect imitation of the rival in the love triangle that gets left behind. That never stood a chance in the first place. 

(Knight trying to rescue the poor princess from the big bad dragon, except the princess is exactly where she wants to be. Sometimes the crown is a shackling obligation and the wind in your hair signifies freedom.) 

Back then? Well, back then Ben thought Dean and Sam were husbands. Not brothers— _married_. Ring on Dean's finger a sign of eternal commitment. When Dean eventually told him otherwise, Ben believed him. Had to, for his Mom's sake. (Wouldn't figure out until later that his Mom did the same thing for him.)

Now he's pretty sure they're both. Brother-lovers. Lover-brothers. Hänsel and Gretel got lost on their way, found the witch's house but instead of dying they killed the witch and made the candy house their home.

It... it disgusts, because how could it _not_. Makes his skin crawl with wrongness because he's ten, not stupid, and there's some things you just don't _do_.

Doesn't disgust him nearly as much as how easily Dean leaves them, though. How _willing_ he is to forsake them so he can go _back._ Like they aren't important, like they never _were_. Like the last year doesn't matter. Supposed-to-be dead brother walks through the door and the slate is wiped clean, previous commitments just a shadow in true love's return.

Ben thought Dean was theirs, now, was his Mom's, was _his_ , that they were Dean's happily ever after.

Now he knows better, knows how stupid he was to believe that. 

Dean's never been anyone's but Sam's, and he's exactly where he wants to be. His happily ever after begins and ends with his brother and Ben and his Mom were never more than another stepping stone to create some suspense in the story. 

(No one ever stops to wonder what happens to the other characters once the happy couple gets to live out the rest of their lives.)

**Author's Note:**

> of course, then their memories get erased and they're never mentioned again, so it's not like it really matters


End file.
